Tag Archives: Long Black Coffee

A lot of cafes serve long blacks too hot, as if the shot is poured into boiling, rather than hot, water. It seems to be a matter of preference; I know more people who prefer their black coffee super hot than those who don’t.

One place that doesn’t kill a long black with heat is Amici Deli, a newish Italian deli on Gympie Road in Chermside. Amici specialises in imported Italian products and smallgoods. They also have a coffee machine, a few tables and chairs and use Di Bella beans.

Amici Deli offers some dine-in food as well, though its menu is not as extensive as most other cafes. Sandwiches, frittatas, quiche and arancini make up a lot of the selection currently, but they seem to be adding more options all the time. There is also a decent selection of sweets, from cheesecake to cannoli.

Working on the desk at a powerlifting meet is a busy job. You need to ensure the lifters get their next attempts in before they run out of time, keep the lifters aware of the lifting order and make sure the result from each attempt is entered, and often all three at the same time. If you add announcing to this as well, it’s a real juggling act. But at least the organisers will often buy you a coffee.

Metalwork from August

The 2011 Queensland Open Powerlifting and Bench Press Competition was held in Jindalee, at the Fitness First gym. Due to a broken arm from August, I am currently unable to compete, at least if I want my squat total to be greater than 20kg. This is why I have helped with the desk and the spreadsheet at the last few events I’ve been to.

The Fitness First in Jindalee is located in the DFO shopping centre. There are not a lot of coffee options there, and considering the only other cafe I saw that morning was a Gloria Jeans, a Coffee Club long black was not to be sneered at.

It was as good as expected – the coffee was not burnt and it was drinkable. Most importantly of all, it helped me get through the whole competition. The free Subway sandwiches for lunch also helped.

St Patrick’s Day is a bad night to try and find a quiet coffee in Brisbane’s CBD, even if it is to say farewell to a friend over coffee. Fortunately Cafe Mondial on Albert Street, which is a locally owned coffee shop, looked free from green hats. We were directed to a table by one of the staff, and ordered a pair of long blacks, one with milk on the side, and some wedges.

European Black Coffee

My friend is from Finland, and as it turns out, adding cold milk over black coffee is pretty common in Europe. A number of other people I know have also seen the same in Germany and other northern countries. As both coffees came with a small jug of milk, I decided to use mine.

A long black with milk added is different to a flat white: the milk is cold and added over coffee with water. As most cafes in Australia tend to serve black coffee very hot, it was still warm after the cold milk was added.

The coffee does not change that much, and seems more like a compromise between a long black or americano and a flat white. The milk takes the edge off any bitterness in the coffee and would be better suited to beans with a naturally harsher flavour.

TL;DR

Cafe Mondial’s coffee is still as good as it was when I used to eat there while at university. Their menu does not seem to have changed much from what I remember either, aside from the prices, which are higher, and for some items, a bit over average.

For me Wednesday is the worst day for buying coffee on the way to work. It is the day I usually run out of change entirely, or struggle to find enough small change for a takeaway coffee.

This is why Epresso sounds like such an awesome idea. Epresso is a service where the users set up a prepaid account, and top it up online, which lets them order coffee online, from either a computer or smartphone.

With this service, the customers pay for coffee without cash, and without slowing down service at the cafe. By ordering before they arrive, their coffee will already be waiting once they get to the cafe. The business won’t miss sales because the customer has no cash.

The idea is very simple, and solves a small, but persistent and annoying problem, and that is why I can easily see myself using this, given half a chance.

It was a Friday afternoon and the office relocated to Portside for an afternoon of beverages, team building and beer battered chips. The venue was Cafe Chez Laila at Portside and I opted for the coffee.

Portside is on the Brisbane river, just down from Racecourse road. It is a great location, with a number of different cafes, bars and restaurants, some of which are right on the river. Cafe Chez Laila was not. But you could still see the river from where we were sitting outside the cafe. The kitchen closed before we could get a second batch of beer battered chips, but they still served us drinks.

Why?

It was an OK cafe, and the coffee had a strong flavour. I can not comment on the, as I never really saw it. They chips were good, but mostly, Cafe Chez Laila is about the location. That afternoon there was a pleasant breeze coming off the river, and in the failing light of the afternoon, it was a great place to just relax.